Levine Museum gets challenge grant

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Levine Museum of the New South has nearly doubled its goal of raising $350,000 in its 20th anniversary year, raising over $635,000 since last fall, and received a challenge grant from The Leon Levine Foundation that could total $3 million over 10 years.

The anniversary fundraising effort, which will fund programming in the next fiscal year and begin to build reserves for the future, included a $150,000 matching gift from The Leon Levine Foundation.

The challenge grant, which aims to help the museum meet the capital and operating costs related to owning its own facility, and to bolter an endowment to cover future building costs, sets several goals the museum must meet, giving it the opportunity to receive $300,000 a year in challenge gifts.

The museum would get $100,000 a year if it reaches its current level of operational funding, and receive a dollar-for-dollar match up to $200,000 a year it raises in unrestricted funding above that current baseline.

And if the museum meets both challenges in a year, it would allocate $200,000 to grow its endowment and cope with future economic downturns.